Aug 10 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he will demand that Iran pay compensation for “all of the people that they have killed and gravely wounded,” in response to Iran seeking compensation for the damages it has incurred from U.S. and Israeli attacks.
Trump’s social media post came after Iran said over the weekend it was nearing a deal with Oman defining new shipping lanes between them through the Strait of Hormuz but repeated that the U.S. must meet conditions including compensation and an end to sanctions and military threats, before the strategic waterway is reopened.
“It is an interesting idea because now I am likewise demanding compensation from Iran, for all of the people that they have killed and gravely wounded with their roadside bombs and many conflicts,” he wrote on Truth Social.
Trump also referenced and claimed compensation from Iran for the October 2000 deadly bombing of the U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Cole at a Yemeni port. The FBI has attributed that bombing, which killed 17 sailors and wounded more than three dozen others, to al Qaeda.
Trump added that Tehran should also pay compensation to the families of the thousands of people during anti-government protests in January, Iran’s worst domestic unrest since the era of its 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Rights groups say the Iranian government has continued to crack down on opponents during the war.
(Reporting by Bhargav Acharya and Ismail Shakil; editing by Michelle Nichols)
